As he watched, the Brown King Ants marched up the mound and dropped the food in their mandibles into the hole.

"Could it be…?"

A loud scuttling noise was heard. A ma.s.sive head poked out of the nest and revealed a body that was at least five times bigger than the ordinary Brown King Ants! The giant ant's exoskeleton was red and s.h.i.+nier than the rest. The razor-edges on each of the legs protruded further and looked deadly.

An ear-piercing screech rent the air when the bigger demon insect opened its mouth. The workers anxiously gave it their food.

Van's eyes gleamed with excitement.

This must be their Queen!

The Queen's terrifying aura told Van that it was much more powerful than any beast he had encountered before. The noises it made caused all the beasts within a five-kilometre radius to stiffen.

Van looked over its gleaming red sh.e.l.l. His eyes lit up as he quickly calculated.

"The exoskeleton of the Queen Brown King Ant is worth ten thousand silver taels. Physically strong but also able to reduce the effect of martial skills by over twenty percent, the exoskeleton is highly sought after by cultivators to make armour!"

He quickly hatched a plan.

"Even though it is much stronger than me, I must kill it!"

________

[Four hours later]

Van slowly killed off all the worker ants that had been feeding the Queen ant by luring them away in pairs of two or three. He then found some large and sweet-smelling fruits – knowing that ants love sugar – and placed them at the bottom of the mound. The gluttonous Queen was sure to be lured out by its hunger!

However, just luring the Queen wasn't the full extent of the plan.

He had also laced the fruits with a herb that weakens the flesh and causes sleep.

Without its workers to feed it, the Queen finally got hungry enough to venture out of the nest. A ma.s.sive antenna poked out of the hole, followed by an immense head and segmented body. It screeched loudly in excitement to get its little sugar treats.

Despite being far away, Van was pressured by the aura that the Queen – equivalent to a 4th level Qi Distillation exuded. With a body three times as wide as Van was tall, the Queen could crush him with a single leg!

The Queen drew its large body out of the nest and went towards the fruits. It picked them up and swallowed them up in one bite!

[Yes!]

[Now I just need to wait for it to weaken and then fall asleep. Then I will pummel it with my Thermocycling Fist and collect the rewards!]

Van grew excited. His dark eyes watched the scene carefully.

At that moment.

A group of four people ran into the clearing. The Queen startled and reared back.

Van swore.

[Who dares to steal my prey!]

However, it was soon clear that the four people that had run into the clearing had no idea that the Queen ant was in it. Upon spotting the giant insect, they paled to a deathly colour.

"Q-Q—Queen Brown King Ant…It is on par with a Fourth Rank Qi Distillation cultivator…Run!"

They ran away. The Queen chased after them. Although the fruits had been satisfying, they could hardly fill her belly! The four morsels in front of her were bound to be tastier!

BOOM!

Everywhere the Queen Ant pa.s.sed, destruction soon followed. Her immense ma.s.s and st.u.r.dy exoskeleton pulverised everything.

"Miss Delphine. Watch out!" One of the people yelled.

[Delphine? Why does that sound so familiar?]

Van looked closely and finally realised that he knew all four of them…

The three guys were the three Zephyr Sect disciples that had tried to team up with him before, and the girl was that chick who had p.i.s.sed him off at the apothecary!

As he watched, the pink-robed girl turned around and raised her hands. A big transparent green wall appeared between the fleeing figures and the giant insect. She said something sharply, and a giant branch extruded from the ground and speared through the ant.

The Queen Ant veered away at the last moment. The wood spear was rendered ineffectual. With two mighty slashes the green transparent wall was destroyed.

As Van watched, he realised that this Delphine girl was strong. Normal disciples would have fainted from fear. Plus, both of her moves seemed to be high ranked martial arts.

"Her s.h.i.+elding skill looks like its good quality and the wood spear that came from the earth could probably kill a 4th level Qi Distillation cultivator. Unluckily, the Brown King Ant species are known for their incredible physical defence. Worst of all, the Queen Ant's exoskeleton resists martial skills!"

"Save Miss Delphine!" One of the disciples took out a sword and started to attack the Queen.

However, their attacks only felt like tickles to the giant demon insect.

Seeing the futility of their actions, they exchanged glances and ran away once again.

The Queen ant gnashed its mandibles and followed closely.

Van sped towards them while riding on Blackie's back.

[These people don't know that the Queen Ant has been dosed with a weakening and sleep-inducing herb juice. They cannot find out!]

[If I can kill it myself, all ten thousand silver taels will belong to me!]

Sha!

Van leapt off the giant wolf and leapt into the s.p.a.ce between the giant ant queen and the fleeing figures.

"Flaming Bull Fists!"

A giant pillar of flame burst into the air. A strong sizzling sound was heard as the ant's sh.e.l.l was scorched.

The four fleeing people heard fighting noises behind them.

"Someone is actually fighting the Queen of Brown King Ants?"

Even as she ran, Delphine couldn't help but sneak a look over her shoulder as one of her companions spoke.

"…What fool…?"

She turned her neck and her eyes nearly fell out. That was the annoying b.a.s.t.a.r.d that refused to give her even one packet of body strengthening powder at the Grand Botanica!

[Hmph!] she thought, her desire to turn back and help cooled.

She continued to run.

CLANG!

The sounds of battle continued to drift into their ears.

"Somehow…that kid is holding up against the ant queen!"

A furious screech pierced the air. The giant ant queen opened its mandibles and leapt towards Van. The young man rolled to the side.

Internally, Van was still furious.

These b.l.o.o.d.y fools had interrupted the carefully planned trap he had made and now he was fighting the Queen while she was still near her full strength!

A razor-tipped leg grazed past his ear. Van's heart pounded. f.u.c.k!

Van fully exerted Thousand Saints Sacrifice and remained in his Copper Buddha state for as long as possible. To the onlookers, it looked like he was using Copper Knight Wall.

Delphine recognised the skill and shook her head.

"It's only a low-ranked body cultivation technique, it cannot withstand a killing blow from a beast with a higher-realm strength!"

"He's doomed!" She judged. The other three Zephyr sect disciples paled. They unconsciously sped up; they wanted to be as far as possible from the ant queen!

Van continued his fighting charade. Each time the ant queen lunged at him, he would somehow dodge out of the way just in time. It was a dramatic show that would cause any audience's hearts to go up and down.

Of course, Van was not seriously fighting! He had only one goal – stall for long enough that the herb juice's effect would start to occur.

However, he also needed to prevent them from finding out that the Queen was getting weaker and slower!

Therefore, he acted dramatically and purposely showed that he was using a low-level body cultivation technique.

However, he did not expect that in the next moment the Queen became so enraged that it went berserk. It had watched the little morsel of food in front of it evade its hungry jaws time and time again and had had enough!

Van's expression changed.

His skin flashed copper just as the Queen slammed its ma.s.sive head into him.

Not good!

Van flew several metres back. He regaining his feet unsteadily. Van thought he tasted iron in the back of his throat; his ribs were definitely broken.

So, this was the strength of a beast of the 4th rank!

He had sorely underestimated it. It was a good thing that Van was not actually using Copper Knight Wall, if he had been, he would have been snapped into two just then!

There was a scream from one of the Zephyr Sect disciples as Van flew back like a broken kite.

Despite herself, Delphine felt a flash of worry in her heart as she heard the battle behind her.

She told herself the only reason she was concerned was because if he was defeated, they would be next to be eaten by the ant Queen!

In grave danger, Van had no choice but to square up.

Hu!

He took a deep breath in and exhaled loudly. The qi within him began to swirl and gather.

His eyes flashed.

"Thermocycling Fist!" he shouted. Due to the immense physical defence of the Queen's exoskeleton, and its special ability to resist spiritual skills, Van knew that using either Fists of Devouring Flame or Dark Seas Palm on their own was unlikely to produce any good effect. His best bet of killing the Queen was if he could destroy her tough exoskeleton. Only Thermocycling Fist could achieve this!

However, against all expectations Thermocycling Fist had no effect on the Queen's exoskeleton.

The giant ant reared up and flung Van away. The young man rolled as he landed and got to his feet immediately.

Van was undaunted. He had spotted a tiny hairline crack in its sh.e.l.l!

Hope was not lost. Once more he attacked.

"Thermocycling Fist!"

Van drove his glowing fist into the same spot it had hit previously. Under the rapidly changing temperatures, the ant Queen's exoskeleton rapidly expanded and contracted. The strain caused the hairline fracture to become a little bit wider.

Van clung on to the Queen's antenna and drew his fist back.

"Thermocycling Fist!"

When he used this move, onlookers would see a spinning vortex that briefly flashed red and blue.

The hairline fracture widened once more.

With this, the ant Queen began to feel discomfort. It groaned and full-body charged at Van, swinging its legs wildly. The speed at which it charged at was beyond Van's ability to judge. He could only steel himself and brace for the impact.

A deep laceration appeared on his chest.

Van just grit his teeth and ducked below the next leg that came swinging his way.

"Thermocycling Fist!"

He aimed an uppercut at the crack in the exoskeleton.

At the same time, the weakening and drowsiness effect of the herb finally kicked in! The ant Queen became more sluggish, and the power behind its blows lessened.

Van's eyes sharpened. He had pa.s.sed the most critical period. Now all that was left was to lure it away and kill it himself!

All that needed to happen now was for the four people to leave him alone and let him kill the Queen in peace. Then all the spoils would be his!

In his eyes, the Queen was not a demon beast – it was a walking money box holding ten thousand silver taels!

_________

Up ahead, Delphine was biting her lips as she ran. Her eyes showed doubt and uncertainty.

[Should I help him or not?]